In the past, various protector devices have been employed for taking a winding circuit of a dynamoelectric machine off the line in the event of the occurrence of a winding circuit overload which, of course, may have a deleterious affect on components of such dynamoelectric machine, such as for instance burning out the winding circuit. One such protector device is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 2,771,528 issued to D. E. Moran on Nov. 20, 1956. Also in the past, various starter devices have been employed to render a start winding generally ineffective in the winding circuit of a dynamoelectric machine, such as a split phase electric motor for instance, when the dynamoelectric machine is energized and attains a preselected speed. Some of these starter devices are well known to the art, such as centrifugal starting switches and starting relays or the like. Positive temperature coefficient resistors have also been employed as starter devices with the winding circuit of a split phase motor to render the start winding generally ineffective at a preselected motor speed, as shown for instance in the electrical devices illustrated in U.S. Pat. No. 3,737,752 and U.S. Pat. No. 3,559,016, respectively.
These past motor starter devices and protector devices were mounted to a dynamoelectric machine in various manners. For instance, some were disposed on a terminal board in the dynamoelectric machine, and others were laced or otherwise disposed in or adjacent the windings of the dynamoelectric machine. Still others of the past starter devices and protector devices were mounted to the housing of a dynamoelectric machine and connected by leads to the winding circuit thereof.
In an air conditioning or refrigeration compressor unit or the like, a hermetic motor is sealed therein, and either a male or female plug member or cluster is connected in circuit relation with the winding circuit of the hermetic motor and remotely located therefrom so as to be mounted on a housing or jacket of the compressor unit. U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,921,117 and 3,955,170 respectively disclose plug-on and plug-in type motor starter devices which may be assembled to the aforementioned male or female plug members of a compressor unit. In U.S. Pat. No. 3,168,661 a combination starter-protector device is disclosed as being plugged onto a male plug member, such as that previously mentioned. Other combination starter-protector devices are illustrated in U.S. Pat. Application Ser. No. 624,381 filed Oct. 25, 1975 and U.S. Pat. Application Ser. No. 693,409 filed June 7, 1976, both of which are assigned to the common assignee of this application.
Variations in the tolerances of the male terminal with respect to the size thereof and/or in the mounted spacing thereof in the aforementioned plug members are, of course, encountered, and such tolerance variations may also prevail in the cooperating female terminals of the electrical device adapted to be assembled onto such plug members. Due to such variations, at least one of the disadvantageous or undesirable features of such past electrical devices is believed to be that the female terminals thereof were sometimes rather loosely mounted on the cooperating male terminals of the plug members. Of course, it is also believed that such loose mounting resulted in an ancillary disadvantageous or undesirable feature wherein the female terminals of the past electrical devices may have been displaced from their cooperating male terminals of the plug members in response to vibrations or the like established by or during the operation of the apparatus with which the plug members are associated. Still another ancillary disadvantageous or undesirable feature effected by the aforementioned loose mounting is believed to be that such looseness may result in increased electrical resistance between the male terminal and the female terminal so as to cause overheating.
When the aforementioned tolerance variations do exist, another disadvantageous or undesirable feature of the past electrical devices is believed to be be that the female terminals thereof may be spread apart and/or twisted when such female terminals are inserted into assembly engagement with the male terminals of the plug member. A further disadvantageous or undesirable feature of the past electrical devices is believed to be that the spreading and/or twisting movement of the female terminals in response to the assembly thereof on the male terminals may have been transmitted to other electrical components of the electrical device connected with the female terminals thereof so as to deleteriously affect such other electrical components and/or their connections with the female terminals. For instance, in some of the past devices, a PTCR was embraced between contact plates of the female terminals, and the aforementioned displacement movement of the female terminals upon mounting association with the male terminals is believed to have caused the contact plates to abrase or scrub the chemically treated surfaces of the PTCR with which the contact plates were engaged. In this manner, the abrasions caused by the rubbing engagement of the contact plates against the chemically treated surfaces of the PTCR is believed to have caused hot spots therein resulting in the failure of the PTCR.